Andrián Pertout - Decodificando el Universo, The Hyperbass Flute (Peter Sheridan)

Demonstration of the Hyperbass Flute utilized in Decodificando el Universo for Hyperbass Flute, Virtual Prepared Pianoforte, Jaw Harp, Percussion and String Orchestra, no. 467 (2021)

‘Decodificando el Universo’ or ‘Decoding the Universe’ was commissioned by Rodolfo Fischer (Basel, Switzerland) for performance by ‘low flutes’ specialist Peter Sheridan and multi-instrumentalist/composer Andrián Pertout (Melbourne, Australia), percussionist Claudio Estay (Munich, Germany), and the Orquesta de Cámara de Valdivia (Valdivia, Chile) conducted by Rodolfo Fischer. The work represents an artistic depiction of an imaginary journey though the Mapuche universe – a cosmos perceived by the Mapuche People (the indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and south-western Argentina) as a dualist entity, or as “two opposite and complementary worlds in one”: the natural world (represented by the earth with its people) and the supernatural world (a magical and spiritual world represented by the sky). This duality constitutes a union that frames both their religious beliefs and general perception of the world. According to the Mapuche, the vertical conception of the cosmos is further divided into seven overlapping platforms, or levels that encompass three cosmic zones: supra-world, world and infra-world. ‘Decodificando el Universo’ celebrates Mapuche culture and their spiritual philosophy that connects man, land and nature. The work features a series of unique instrumental colours: the Hyperbass Flute (featuring a C below the range of the piano); a Virtual Prepared Pianoforte (developed at the IRCAM acoustic research centre in Paris); a Vargan Taras Jaw Harp (from Yekaterinburg, Russia); and a Bullroarer (whirling aerophone).

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